On Tuesday night, Season 14 of Degrassi premiered on Teen Nick. Although we only got a quick glimpse of Imogen (played by Cristine Prosperi) in the premiere episode, there is sure to be some major drama heading her way if we are to believe what we see in the Season 14 teaser.
Hopefully, we’ll get some Jackogen/Imojack/IMack scenes coming up in the near future. In the meantime, let’s remind ourselves of where we left off with a recap of the Season 13 finale.
At the top of the hour-long finale Imogen is finishing up her presentation on global warming by warning everyone that if they don’t reduce greenhouse gases the devastating effects of climate change will only get worse. As an example super storms that were once rare are now common occurrences around the globe. Dallas and Drew dismiss her claims, saying the kind of storms in her presentation could never happen there. Though Imogen laments that no one ever takes her seriously, once Mr. Perrino releases them for the term, she quickly switches gears to the end of term dance.
Becky is also thankful for a distraction, only she wishes the dance could last for a week or more so she doesn’t have to go home. It seems that her parents haven’t been exactly warm towards her ever since her honest testimony at his trial helped send him to jail. Imogen tries to cheer her up by playing some happy music, but the song she chooses, “Mambo #5” by Lou Bega, only makes things worse. It seems that she and her brother, Luke used to do a dance routine to that song when they were little. Becky runs out of the room crying. Drew, whose friendship with Becky has become tighter ever since they were stranded in the woods together, goes after her.
Meanwhile, Clare is off to New York for an interview at Columbia University. Because there is a storm coming in, she flies in several hours early and explores the city before her interview. When she sees an Eli look-alike, she freaks out and runs into a pole. A few hours, a blood test, and several stitches later, she convinces the nurse to let her leave the emergency room without seeing the doctor. Unfortunately, it’s still too late to meet the admissions team as they have all gone home for the day. The assistant is able to get her a slot the next morning, but since all the hotels are full with stranded tourists, Clare has no choice but to crash at Eli’s for the night. Eli gives Clare some dry clothes to wear and they grab a chicken kebab from a street vendor. They laugh like old times and Clare apologizes for breaking up with Eli the way she did. He forgives her saying that she actually did him a favor. She set him free to explore NYC and film school on his own terms.
The storm changes paths and makes its way to Degrassi, uprooting trees, causing leaks and effectively shutting down the dance. The students are stranded at school and as they take attendance Imogen and Jack realize that Becky hasn’t been seen since she ran out of class earlier. Hand in hand, they run up to Drew and ask him where he last saw he Becky. He tells them that she was last seen in the greenhouse and they make the horrifying realization that a fallen tree had hit the greenhouse.
The three of them run out into the pouring rain looking for Becky but she isn’t there. Inside, Drew finds Becky in a utility closet eating a granola bar. As a native of Florida who is used to hurricanes, being in the gym with all its windows didn’t seem safe, so she hid out in the interior closet instead. As Drew enters the closet to ask Becky to come out and join the others, the door closes and locks behind him. Now Drew and Becky are stuck in the closet together! I bet you can guess what is going to happen next. With Imogen at her side, Jack wields an axe to break into the utility closet and saves Drew and Becky. But not before they kiss.
But Drew and Becky aren’t the only ones in compromising situations. Miles and Tristan are both upset with Maya so they decide to skip the dance and have a movie marathon together instead. Unfortunately, new couple, Winston and Frankie, is already using the “good” television. There’s nothing left to do, but solve the problem the Hollingsworth way: by playing charades. During the game-in which Frankie and Winston are losing while Tristan and Miles seem to be able to read each other’s minds-it comes out that Mr. Yates tried to grope Winston.
It becomes clear to Tristan that the connection that he and Grant Yates shared was not as special as he thought. He runs out into the storm and when Miles follows him, Tristan confesses that he had a thing for Miles in Paris. Miles pushes Tristan to the ground to avoid flying debris and they find themselves inches away from each other on the ground. Tristan remarks that if they were in a romantic comedy this would be when they kissed, but before they do, Miles jumps up and says they have to go back inside to check on Frankie and Winston. Inside Tristan continues to flirt with Miles, and as the four-some start playing “Murder” by candlelight, Winston warns Miles that Tristan wants to be more than friends with him. Miles doesn’t seem to mind, however, and after finding Tristan hiding in the dark he isn’t thrown at all when Tristan threatens to kiss him if he comes any closer. “Go ahead,” Miles says. And they do. Winston walks in on them, and after Tristan leave to give Winston and Miles a chance to talk, Winston yells at Miles for being careless with Tristan’s feelings. He advises Miles to get his act together before he hurts someone else he cares about.
It seems that getting caught out in the rain together is a good way to get people to have some real talk. Zig promises both Maya and Zoe that he would go to the dance with them, but when the storm foils that plan, the two sworn enemies are stuck in the Matlin house together. Following advice from Grace, Zig produces a bottle of peach schnapps hoping that the “social lubricant” will help to smooth things over between them. Silly Zig! Alcohol isn’t a social lubricant; it’s a truth serum. The three of them play Never Have I Ever (which always goes well, right?) and soon Maya is yelling at Zoe for being a horrible person. Then, in her drunken state, Maya decides to go to the dance on her own. Zoe goes after her and convinces her to take shelter from the storm in Dot’s. After Zoe gets Maya into some dry clothes, the two hash it out and Zoe reminds Maya that she isn’t completely innocent either. After all, Maya stole Miles from her first. Zoe has always wanted to be friends with Maya, but jealousy got in the way. Maya admits to being jealous of Zoe as well. The two girls decide to put the past in the past, and. they seal the deal with a duet of “Thank You for Being a Friend.”
The storm passes and the sun rises. Clare aces her Columbia interview and but before she catches her flight home, Eli arrives to tell her that he lied the night before. He isn’t over her. Tristan is cleaning out the Hollingsworth pool when Miles approaches. Tristan tells Miles that they never have to talk about the kiss they shared the night before. He figures Miles was just doing it to get back at Maya. Miles admits that he is confused. It was weird…but a good weird. He feels good when he is around Tristan. Tristan agrees. The question is: what do they do now? Becky also tries to give Drew an out. She is willing to forget that their kiss ever happened, but he doesn’t want to forget it. They decided to go slow and see where the kiss leads. Imogen is so excited the world didn’t end that she is professing her love to the trees and kissing the ground. But Jack begs Imogen to save some kisses for her, and kisses her in the middle of the street, dirt smudge and all.
All seems right in the world of Degrassi. Clare arrives at the school and shares the good news about her Columbia interview and Eli’s confession with Ali when she gets a call with more good news. The nurse from the hospital is on the line to tell Clare that her blood work came back and everything is normal. It seems that everything is A-ok with her….and her baby!!!!!
Season 14 of Degrassi continues this past school year, picking up just a week or two after Clare’s life-changing bombshell. According to Executive Producer, Stephen Strohn there will be 28 episodes in all-28 more episodes for Jack and Imogen’s relationship to grow before Imogen graduates. Twenty-eight more episodes for Miles to figure out how he feels about Tristan. And what will Maya do when she finds out her ex-boyfriend and her ex-best friend have kissed?
The Season 14 finale focused primarily on the Clare pregnancy dilemma. By the time the students return to school after spring break she has decided to get an abortion. When she gets the news that she has been accepted to Columbia, it only serves to solidify her decision. Then she begins spotting and goes to the hospital. When the doctor tells her that the baby is fine, she is relieved. She realizes what a miracle it is that she got pregnant at all after her cancer. Though her head tells her that an abortion is the best decision, her heart won’t allow her to go through with it.
Meanwhile, Miles and Tristan are still kissing. On their first day back to school Miles texts Tristan and asks him to meet him in the greenhouse. Tristan and Miles make out so long that Miles is late for the family photo shoot. When Mr. Hollingsworth demands to know what he was doing that was more important than his campaign, Miles shouts loud enough for everyone to hear, “Making out with my boyfriend!”
The next morning the Hollingsworth family gathers for breakfast and begins questioning Miles about his sexuality. Is he gay? Bisexual? Experimenting with sexual fluidity? Miles says that he doesn’t know. He just knows that he likes Tristan and that he likes kissing him. Mr. Hollingsworth thinks that is ridiculous. He assumes that Miles is kissing Tristan just to make him angry and mess up his campaign. Tristan is so furious that even though kissing Tristan had nothing to do with his dad at first, he uses his relationship to paint his Dad in a negative light to a reporter.
Also, did I mention that Drew and Becky are a full-on couple now? Not sure if I can get on board with that one. I’m not too worried about it though, because now that Zoe has told Becky that Drew got Clare pregnant, I’m sure it won’t last long.
Did you catch the season 14 premiere of Degrassi? What are your hopes for Imogen and Jack this season?
Degrassi airs on Teen Nick on Tuesday nights at 9/8pm.
